Hi Sarah, hope you're ok. Can you paint a portrait for us of yourself and your role?

I am the founder and CEO of Elephant In The Room Training, and my background is in childcare - until I had three children of my own. I then worked for a cancer charity as their engagement and development research officer for five years before founding my business. I live in the village of Hest Bank with my husband, three sons and two rather large labradoodles. I love to cook and bake, go on coastal walks and am involved with comedy amateur dramatics - which is so much fun.

What does a typical working day look like for you?

I work flexibly so no two days are the same. When I'm not delivering training or providing consultancy work, I'm out there meeting people - I prefer face-to-face wherever possible. I love to hear about their work and discuss how best I can support them, because we need to talk about cancer in the workplace - it's a problem that just isn't going to go away. I love how different my days can be, and meeting people and working collaboratively is absolutely fantastic.

What motivates you to do what you do?

I have a lived experience of cancer myself and wanted to make a positive impact to help those effected by cancer to live the life they want and deserve - and people need to work. Employers have a duty-of-care to understand how to support their people. For want of a better expression, people just need to talk about the 'Elephant In The Room' and understand how individuals need supporting. Every 90 seconds someone in the UK is diagnosed with cancer, but through amazing research and technological advancements more people are living - and working - post cancer diagnosis. Because cancer is a protected characteristic, employees are legally entitled to reasonable adjustments so employers need to understand how they might need to help.

What is/has been your favourite aspect of being part of the collaborative community through the Health Innovation Campus?

The people I've met at the HIC are on another level. They're passionate, supportive, interesting and dynamic. So many doors have opened for my business since I opened the door to the HIC building. Things just happen as a result of all the collaboration. If you have an idea there's always someone around to bounce it off, so things just happen quicker.

What future projects and collaborations are you excited about?

I am working alongside North West Cancer Research on some projects, and the NHS, and am open to more opportunities to get involved and collaborate. If anyone wants to know where to find me, they know I'll be around the HIC.